Political crisis: CGT does not call for demonstration on September 7, but hopes it will be "successful"

Following Emmanuel Macron's refusal to nominate Lucie Castets, candidate of the New Popular Front (NFP) to Matignon, La France Insoumise and several student union organisations - the Student Union and the High School Union (USL) - called on Tuesday for "a large demonstration against Emmanuel Macron's coup" on 7 September.

LFI then urged political, union and associative forces "attached to the defense of democracy to join this appeal."

During the legislative campaign, "the CGT got its hands dirty like never before" by calling for a blockade of the far right and a vote for the candidates of the New Popular Front, Sophie Binet told AFP.

"But we can't do this all the time. Here we return to our union role and a union is not a political party," stressed the general secretary of the Montreuil union.

The mobilization of "September 7 is called by political organizations, it is their responsibility and it will allow employees who wish to demonstrate to denounce this unacceptable coup by Emmanuel Macron", believes Ms. Binet, who "hopes that the day (of the 7th) will be successful".

The CGT, whose "responsibility is to organize the social response", is calling for its part to join the mobilization of October 1, initiated by the inter-union of retirees.

"October 1st is the first day of debate on the budget in the National Assembly," recalls Sophie Binet, who wants to take advantage of it to demand "the repeal of the pension reform, the increase of salaries and pensions, equality between women and men, the financing of our public services", among others.

"The budget will be the central debate at the start of the school year with very important consequences for employees," says the union leader.

The Solidaires union has also decided to join the mobilizations on October 1, while the other union organizations must make their decisions in the coming days, after consulting their authorities.

For its part, if the FSU does not "formally" call for the mobilization of a part of the left on September 7, it "looks at this mobilization with benevolence" and judges it "useful", according to its leader Benoit Teste.

In a press release sent on Wednesday, the PCF also called "for mobilization on September 7" and "on October 1 for a call from trade union organizations."

Emmanuel Macron continued his hearings on Wednesday with a view to appointing a Prime Minister. The head of state received the leader of the right Laurent Wauquiez who, upon leaving the Elysée, reported a "disappointing" interview, calling on the head of state to stop "procrastinating".